A Letter from Your Coaches
Come on in to the most unique home makeover you've ever experienced! This challenge is not only about decorating tips; it's about how your home's very layout and design affect your life and happiness. Welcome! The first question we are usually asked is: What is an "Emotional House"? The simplest answer? A home that supports all of your emotional needs. Builders construct houses to serve practical functions: a place to sleep, prepare meals, wash up, etc. But every room in your home also serves an emotional function and that setup is up to you. To live a happy life you need special places where you can develop intimacy, bond with others, enjoy camaraderie, nurture one another, enjoy serenity, exercise accountability and self-expression, get release through play, and purify yourself with reverence. Your home can and should serve all of these needs. And when your home's not working, your life's not working.
That's why our number one House Rule is "Live in Your Whole House." Many people sequester themselves in just one or two rooms and live with their emotional needs unmet. That's a recipe for a life out of balance. So how do you create this perfect Emotional House? You build it with our Four Cornerstones--harmony, balance, support, and a stress-free environment. These cornerstones are established with proper furniture arrangement, cleanliness, organization, the manner in which you use the space and the level of comfort you provide. When your decor respects and enables everyone's true lifestyle, harmony presides, all feel welcomed and supported and stress is eliminated. This is the key to living well. Because when your house is in order, everyone's needs, both practical and emotional, are met with ease and joy! And that makes for balanced living.
Your Challenge
Your challenge during this six-week workshop will be to transform your home's problem areas into harbors of love and support for you and your family. We'll start you off in emotional territory to unearth the nitty gritty of your home and life needs, particularly those not getting met, then we'll leap into practical design solutions that will put your whole life on track!
All you need in preparation is something to write in--a House Journal. That's where you'll be keeping notes on all your practical and emotional discoveries during the Challenge. Everything else will be laid out for you as you go. So, get ready for some exciting self-exploration and some great design solutions in your Emotional House! And we look forward to meeting you on the Love Your Home message board!
Welcome to the journey home,
Kathryn and Dawn
About Your Coaches
Kathryn L. Robyn and Dawn Ritchie are the authors of The Emotional House: How Redesigning Your Home Can Change Your Life (New Harbinger Publications, 2005). Kathryn and Dawn have been helping people redesign their lives by working with their homes for a combined total of over 20 years. Their 2005 book made their Emotional House program available to everyone, which, in the words of TV's most popular designer Candice Olson, "unlocks the door on home design, giving you the keys to creating a home that lifts your spirits and agrees with your lifestyle." Beyond that, it helps readers reorient themselves to the things that make them happy in life, and to identify the mistakes they are making in their house that get in the way of that happiness. As they always say: A great home, an Emotional House, is not about the "wow" factor. It's about the "ahh" factor.
